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Monday, October 30, 2006

Sprint Profit Plunges as Customers Flee

Sprint, struggling to digest its $35 billion purchase last year of Nextel, reported worsening results for the third quarter.

Sprint said net income fell to $247 million, or 8 cents a share, from $516 million, or 23 cents a share, in the 2005 period. Operating income was off by 6%. Revenue rose 8% to $10.5 billion. The results met expectations.

But worrisome was that at a time when Cingular and Verizon are routinely adding more than 1 million customers a quarter, Sprint managed to lose customers, notes Roger Entner, a wireless analyst at Ovum. "It's pretty bad."